[Event Report: "A Top Chef's Innocent Dish" 1st Edition] Nagoya's Highly Sought-After Japanese Restaurant "Izumo" Goes All Out on "Ordinary Food"

Harapeko Inc. (Minato-ku, Tokyo / CEO: Uemon Mitomi) operates "Ubu", a nostalgic gastronomy restaurant in Roppongi that offers childhood nostalgia and luxury wine. Ubu has launched a new series of events inviting active frontline chefs to recreate "that one dish" everyone remembers.

As the memorable first guest of the new project "A Top Chef's Innocent Dish", they welcomed Shigeharu Otani, who leads "Izumo", a completely referral-and-reservation-only Japanese restaurant in Nagoya. It was an experimental night typical of Ubu, reconstructing "ordinary food" etched in childhood and apprenticeship memories using the techniques and sensibilities of a top chef.

Ubu advocates nostalgic gastronomy, redrawing "that one dish" everyone was obsessed with using modern techniques and sensibilities. On the other hand, Izumo is a restaurant that has overturned memories of existing tastes through its extraordinary obsession with ingredients and improvisation. A restaurant that edits memories and a restaurant that destroys memories. By daring to take on the difficult task of "making ordinary food with all our might" with these polar opposite personalities, the outline of this project suddenly became clear.

The opening dish was "Dried Icefish". The very design of daring to drop icefish, which is normally loved for its delicacy, into the context of preserved food is already unique. Beyond the savory aroma, the umami trapped inside gently rises. While the outline of the dish is familiar, only the resolution of the taste is high. That sensation was exactly the experience that symbolized this night.